Summary: This series is modified from Rick Warren's The Purpose of Christmas

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

I found a story of about a father who took his daughter with him to a local store. Just as the father was getting out of the car, he met a friend. The two men started talking. The daughter was left in the car seat. After a few minutes the daughter became impatient. She struggled to get out of the car seat. She wanted to be out. Eventually she put her head out of the window and said, “Please God, get me out of here.” Can you relate? This little child had been struggling with her car seat and realized that she couldn’t escape. She was in fact crying out for a Savior. Maybe you are much like her. Maybe you have been strapped by the weight of debt. You have struggled with this problem it seems for a lifetime. Maybe you feel the tightening of life’s grip. You have been bound by a problem and there seems to be no escape. Maybe you know your purpose but for some unforeseen reason you keep hitting your head on the ceiling. You feel as if you will never be able to achieve your full potential. If this is you, then you are in the best place! God has a word for you.

READ AND PRAY

RESCUED FROM OUR SIN

Sin is a word that we pretend to understand but don’t. Let me give you an

example. THERMODYNAMICS. Most likely you could tell someone something about Thermodynamics. But can you really get into the details and explain it?

The first law of thermodynamics mandates conservation of energy and states in particular that the flow of heat is a form of energy transfer.

The second law of thermodynamics states that the entropy of an isolated macroscopic system never decreases, or, equivalently, that perpetual motion machines are impossible.

The third law of thermodynamics concerns the entropy of a perfect crystal at absolute zero temperature, and implies that it is impossible to cool a system to exactly absolute zero.

Sin is much like that. We recognize that we have issues or problems. We can relate to the girl. We not only recognize the issue but also realize that we cannot escape! However, we do not recognize the immense debt that sin causes. We know that we lie, but we call them “white lies” to rationalize them. We know that we lust, but we work ourselves through this rationalizing process of, “I really do need a tenth pair of those black 3 inch heal stilettos. We abhor sex outside of marriage, but we tolerate it on TV.